Egyptian Board Nephrology - independent subject foundations key terms
Egyptian Board Nephrology - independent subject foundations · Get comfortable with the vocabulary.
- Nephrin
A slit-diaphragm adhesion protein whose disruption can impair the glomerular filtration barrier and cause inherited protein loss.
- Podocyte
A specialized epithelial cell that supports filtration through foot processes and the intervening slit-diaphragm architecture.
- Tubuloglomerular feedback
A signaling mechanism linking distal sodium chloride delivery to changes in glomerular vascular tone and filtration.
- Aquaporin
A membrane water channel whose regulated collecting-duct availability helps determine water reabsorption and urine concentration.
- Fractional excretion
The fraction of a filtered substance ultimately excreted, interpreted cautiously alongside medications and the clinical setting.
- Anion gap
A calculated difference between measured plasma cations and anions that helps classify selected metabolic acid-base disorders.
- Urine osmolal gap
The difference between measured and calculated urine osmolality, potentially informative about unmeasured urinary solutes and ammonium.
- Tonicity
The effective osmotic influence of extracellular solutes on water distribution across cell membranes and cell volume.
- Compensation
A physiological response to an acid-base disturbance that should be compared with an expected range rather than assumed complete.
- Renal tubular acidosis
A disorder of renal acid or bicarbonate handling that can produce metabolic acidosis despite varied filtration impairment.
- Proteinuria
Increased urinary protein excretion whose composition, magnitude and associated sediment help identify the underlying renal process.
- Pauci-immune pattern
A biopsy immunofluorescence pattern showing little immune deposition despite substantial inflammatory injury in the relevant tissue.
- Immune complex
An antigen-antibody aggregate that may contribute to glomerular injury through deposition and inflammatory complement activation.
- Crescent
An extracapillary proliferative lesion that requires interpretation with its extent, age and the broader renal biopsy pattern.
- Albuminuria category
A classification of urinary albumin loss that adds prognostic information distinct from the estimated filtration category.
- Acute kidney injury
An acute deterioration in kidney function assessed using the time course of creatinine and urine-output changes.
- Ultrafiltration
Movement of fluid across a membrane under a pressure gradient, used therapeutically but potentially limited by hemodynamic tolerance.
- Convection
Solute transport accompanying fluid movement through a membrane, an important mechanism in hemofiltration-based kidney replacement therapy.
- Donor-specific antibody
An antibody directed against donor antigens whose clinical interpretation depends on context, biopsy findings and transplant history.
- Calcineurin inhibitor
An immunosuppressive medication class requiring attention to concentration, interactions, adverse effects and individual transplant treatment goals.